Texas defeats Manchester -by Gianni PascucciDuring the past weekend, the ABA saw one of its rare East-West showdowns, when the Texas Tycoons traveled till Manchester, N.H. to meet the Millrats. These are, in our opinion, two of the best teams remained in the league, and the game was very close, as it was easy to expect. At the end, Texas escaped Manchester with a one point victory 123-122, with Mario Kinsey (6'2''-G-82, college: Sam Houston St.) leading all the Tycoons' scorers at 22, while Anthony Anderson (5'11''-G-81, college: Massachusetts) was the game MVP, scoring 33 points and dishing 10 assists for the Manchester Millrats in losing effort. The night after, Manchester took an immediate revenge, defeating the Montreal Royal 128-105, and Anderson was again at the top, with a 30 point performance. Al Stewart (5'10''-G-83, agency: Rice and Rice, college: Drake) added 24 points and 8 assists and P.J. Young (6'6''-F, college: S.New Hampshire) 20 points and 13 boards at the winning side, while Tommy Mitchell (6'3''-G-82, college: Siena) led Montreal with 27. Manchester record is now 19-10 on the season.

Texas Tycoons down 3rd ranked Manchester Millrats on the road 123-122. -by Jean-Paul AfifManchester, NH: The 4th ranked Texas Tycoons defeated the 3rd ranked Manchester Millrats 123-122 on the road at Manchester this past Saturday February 9th. The Millrats (18-10) hosted the Texas Tycoons (16-1) at home in New Hampshire for a battle of top level ABA power rankings.

Leaving their homes in Texas at 5:30am on the day of the big game, the Tycoons knew they would have to focus in and man up for the evening game. After traveling all day and arriving in New Hampshire, the Tycoons focused in on the task at hand from the start of pre-game warm ups, till the final seconds ticked off the clock to come back home with a strong Win against a good opponent.

'Our focus and mental toughness on the road against a good team paid off with a quality win, our Tycoons team is a family and has really bonded and come together' stated Tycoons Head Coach Jean-Paul S. Afif

The Tycoons fought hard all game, with a well balanced scoring attack, and tenacious defense to set the tone. Big Man Randall Williams and guard Mario Kinsey displayed a great inside out game leading the Tycoons on the court, playing every possession with a passion. With 9 Tycoon players suited up for the game, Texas had 7 out 9 players with double digit scoring efforts.

Guard Mario Kinsey led Texas with 22pts, 6 assists and 2 steals, followed closely by fellow guard Melvin Mitchell with 19pts, 4 assists, and 2 steals on 67% shooting from the 2pt field and 60% from the 3pt line in 24 minutes. Forward Randall Williams set the tone for the Tycoons in the paint and on the glass dominating the boards for both teams with 13 rebounds, including 8 offensive, 4 of which were rebound tip dunks, to go with 3 huge, intimidating blocks. Williams was one of 2 tycoons to have a double-double along with Ty Thomas who finished with 15pts, and a solid 11 rebounds to go with 2 assists and a steal.

Guard Dameon Sansom entered the game off the bench knocking down 5 of 8 from the 3pt line (63%) claiming key possessions down the stretch for the Tycoons with his clutch shooting, and free throws to seal the win. Aside from making shots, Dameon showed to be a leader and floor general on the court with no turnovers and 17pts in his 20 minutes of play.

Portugal bound Donald Gray filled up a stat sheet with 10pts, 7 rebs, 2 assists, 1 blk, and 2 steals for a solid performance also placing defensive pressure on Manchester all game, along with scrappy guard Steven Dunn, aka Turk. Turk entered the game with relentless defensive pressure, and sparked the Tycoons with his tenacious defensive leadership and presence on the court. Steven Dunn had a extremely efficient 10pts in 11minutes of play to go with 5 rebs, 3 assists, and a steal.

The Tycoons team basketball and defensive intensity posed to much for the Millrats down the stretch, as Forward Taron Hill banged his way in the paint to 8 pts, 6 rebs (4 offensive) and 2 massive blocks, followed by Jonathan Young's 5pts, 4 rebs, 2 assists and a steal. Jonathon filled his defensive assignment while in the game with heavy deny defense, and unwavering ball pressure.

The Texas Tycoons are gearing up for the playoffs and the road to win the ABA Championship. The Tycoons hope to dispel and questions about their team players, their quality of play, or strength of schedule with this key 123-122 road win against the 3rd ranked Manchester Millrats.

'As an organization we do our best every year to sort through players and field the best talent Texas has to offer. We feel all of our players are not only high quality professional basketball players, but also quality individuals as well. We know our players have what it takes to play at the next level, but more so than that any player who has on a Tycoon jersey is a Soldier.' Texas Tycoon General Manager Mike Senters.

Visit the Texas Tycoons website at www.txtycoons.com for information about this weekends upcoming games.

A spirited show, led by Al Hala's Ahmed Mirza (176-G-83) who scored 22 points, handed Manama their first defeat in the season and revived their chances of taking one of top positions in the first round for a berth in the Golden Square final round.

Other top players for Al Hala yesterday were Nigerian professional Boni who scored 19 points and Ali Abbas who contributed with 13.

For Manama, who played the match without their American professional Donald Little, were relying on Mohammed Hussain who made the bulk of scoring with 25 points. Mahmood Ghuloom was the second top scorer with 20 points.

Despite the defeat, Manama are sharing Al Ahli the lead with 23 points each from 12 matches.

After a recent good run, Al Hala moved up to a joint fifth place with Nuwaidrat with 19 points each.

In other matches, Al Najma edged Al Ittihad 83-79 after extra-time for their fourth win in the season while Sitra moved up to fourth following a 81-74 win over defeating Bahrain Club.

Both Al Najma and Al Ittihad were tied 69-69 at the end of regular time. Ali Abduljalil and Nigerian professional Awere inspired Al Najma to a four-point victory, scoring six points each in the extra-time period.

Winning their seventh match, Sitra now have 20 points, one ahead of fifth place Nuwaidrat who have a match in hand today against Isa Town.

Charleori has signed American forward Matt Walsh (197-F/G-82, agency: Arik Krayn Services, college: Florida) for the rest of the season. Official sources confirmed the playeris to arrive in Charleroi on Monday afternoon.Till recently Walsh played in Spain for Manresa. In 18 games for Ricoh Manresa he is averaging 22mpg, 11.3ppg and 3.2 rpg.

Played 16 games for Larissa in Greece during the 2006-2007 season and had averages of 17.8ppg and 4.6rpg. Was voted to the Eurobasket Greece All Import team.

Before heading to Greece he was on the pre-season roster of the New Jersey Nets and played 7 games with averages of 4.4ppg and 3.8 rpg. Was waived before the start of the regular season.

Played 2 games for the Miami Heat in 2005-2006. Played in the NBA Summerleagues between 2005 and 2007 for the Miami Heat, Seattle Supersonics, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Had an good career at Florida where in his 3 years he averaged around 14pts and 4 rebs.

Flamengo / Petrobras is the only undefeated team in the league with a 7-0 record. They won today 97-75 over UTC/ Uberlandia in a game where Flamengo took the lead during the 1st quarter through the 3rd and then took it easy in the 4th quarter. Marcelinho scored 25 points, Duda and Coloneze both scored 14 points. For UTC Salgueiro dropped in 22 Pts.

In the 2nd game CISER/ UNIVILLE/ JOINVILLE defeated INESUL/ FEL/ LONDRINA 75-61 to get to 2nd place in the league with a record of 5-3. Espiga with 16 points was the best by Joinville and Leo with 18 Pts by Londrina.

*****************************************************BRIT.V.ISLANDS

Mcneese State loses in OT -by David EdoleNicholls State and McNeese State waged a three point shooting contest here Saturday and the Colonels produced the best hand along with a 74-71 overtime Southland Conference victory.

There were a total of 24 three point shots (72 points) made during the game and 52 were taken. Nicholls connected on 15 of 29 - 10 of 14 in the second half - while the Cowboys made nine of 29 - 5 of 9 in the second half.

McNeese held a 29-23 lead at the end of the first half and the score was tied 65 all at the end of regulation.

It was at the free throw line that the Colonels actually won the game as all nine of their second half points came from free throws.

Ten times the Colonels went to the free throw in the overtime and nine times they connected. McNeese made two free throws in the overtime along with two field goals.

A three point shot that Diego Kapelan, the Cowboys' leading scorer in the game, missed was the final shot of the overtime with two seconds left.

'I thought that we played hard and we played good enough to win some of those other games that we lost,' Cowboy head coach Dave Simmons said following the game. 'We knew that Nicholls was a good shooting three point team and that was the difference in the game. We had the ball in the right hands at the end of the game, we just came up short.

'The effort was good for all of our players. We want to keep this same kind of effort but get a different result in our next game.'

The loss, in front of 1,502 fans (largest of the season), drops the Cowboys record to 8-12 overall and to 2-6 in league play. Nicholls goes to 7-17 overall and to 2-7 in the Southland Conference.

Kapelan came off the bench to lead the game in scoring with 24 points. He made seven field goals in the game, all of them from three point range, and he added three free throws.

Also in double scoring figures for McNeese were Kleon Penn (211-C-86) and John Ford with 11 points each. Jarvis Bradley, the team's leading scorer on the season, was held to seven points. Penn also tallied nine rebounds and five blocked shots.

Nicholls had four double figure scorers led by 19 from Ryan Bathie. Justin Payne scored 14 and Anatoly Bose and Dominic Friend had 12 each.

Both teams claimed 37 rebounds, Penn leading the Cowboys with nine followed by eight from Rorey Lawrence.

McNeese jumped into the lead at the outset of the game and held a 14-5 lead at one time. The Cowboys were also out in front by nine at 27-18 with 2:57 left. Nicholls outscored McNeese 5-2 the rest of the way to trail by six at the half.

In the second period the Colonels put out a 34-17 run to go out by nine points with 8:37 left. A free throw by Ford with 34 second left in the half sent the game into overtime with the score tied 65 all.

Nicholls scored the first six points of the overtime and held on for the win when Kapelan missed his long range shot at the buzzer.

*****************************************************CANADA

Brock University Men's Basketball Team Head Coach Ken Murray Became A Legend -by Fatih AkserThe No. 10 ranked Brock University men's basketball team (13-6 OUA West) defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves for the second straight night coming out on top with a 75-73 victory. Brock Head Coach Ken Murray became just the 4th active coach in the CIS to record 500 career victories.

Nymburk proves strength against Prostejov -by Eurobasket NewsNymburk once again claimed their dominant position in the NBL edging their closest rivals Prostejov in Round 27. The game was highly anticipated as the clash of two leaders but actually appeared to be close for about one and a half quarters. Ames scored the first points in the game to put Prostejov ahead but not for long though. Ladislav Sokolovsky (201-F-77, agency: PPGroup) scored 11 points in the opening frame to give Nymburk a 17:15 lead after it. The hosts kept the distance in the second frame and soon Pavel Slezak (185-G-84) completed a three-point play to open up a double-digit lead. Bojic capped the first half with a jumper and Prostejov trailed 31:39 at halftime. Michal Kremen (200-F-81) scored 5 points and Radoslav Rancik (207-F/C-78, college: St.Cloud St.) added two more as Nymburk cleared off to a 14-point distance midway through the third period. Jaroslav Prasil (201-F-80, agency: PPGroup) and Aleksandar Bojic (207-C-81, college: Hawaii-Pacific) trimmed the deficit to 12 points but it was not enough to spark any sort of intrigue. Petr Benda (203-F/C-82, agency: Court Side) and Blake Schilb (201-G-83, college: Loyola, IL) quickly restored a safe margin in the fourth period and the hosts controlled the tempo till the final buzzer. Radoslav Rancik scored 21 points for the home team. Ladislav Sokolovsky added 16 points, while Blake Schilb had 11 points and 8 assists for the winners. Robert Tomaszek (205-F-81, college: Texas Tech) responded with 18 points and 10 boards for Prostejov. Nymburk improved to 26-1 record and face Brno next. Prostejov fell to 20-7 record and were leapfrogged by Geofin in the ladder. They take on Usti in Round 28. Geofin used Prostejov's loss to surpass them in the ladder. In Round 27 Geofin picked up a confident win over Brno. Robert Sarovic (205-F-78) scored 20 points and Hurl Beechum (196-F-73, college: Iowa St.) delivered 15 more to pace Geofin to an 83:59 victory. David Machac (204-F-80) answered with 13 points and 7 boards for Brno as they fell to 11-16 record. Geofin will play against Liberec away from home next.

Last Transactions -by Surujh RoopnarineNBA Assigned Player RotationsThe Charlotte Bobcats re-called rookie forward Jermareo Davidson (6'10''-F-84, college: Alabama) from Sioux Falls. The former Alabama product appeared in six games with the Skyforce, averaging 18.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks in 31.5 minutes per.The Dallas Mavericks re-assigned second year guard/forward Maurice Ager (6'4''-G-84, college: Michigan St.) to the Tulsa 66ers. This is Ager's second stint with the 66ers this season. During his first assignment (December) the former Michigan state swingman posted averages of 17.4 points and 2.3 assists in eight games.

Roster ChangesFebruary 4thFt. Wayne: Announced that Walker Russell (6'0''-G-82, college: Jacksonville St.). has left the team.February 6thAnaheim: Signed former West Virginia guard Mike Gansey (6'4''-G-82, college: W.Virginia) and waived rookie Marquis Webb (6'5''-G/F-84, college: Rutgers) due to injury.Los Angeles: Announced that Devin Green (6'7''-G-82, college: Hampton) has left the team.February 7thIowa: Acquired C Darryl Watkins (6'11''-C, college: Syracuse) in a trade with Los Angeles and announced that C Anthony Tolliver (6'9''-C-85, college: Creighton) has left the team.Los Angeles: Acquired F Brandon Wallace (6'9''-F-85, college: S.Carolina) in a trade with Iowa and acquired G Brian Morrison (6'2''-G-82, college: UCLA).February 9thSioux Falls: Signed former NBA second round NBA Draft Pick (#37, 2006) Bobby Jones (6'6''-F-84, college: Washington). The defensive specialist from Washington has appeared in 76 games over the last two seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzles averaging 3.0 points and 1.5 rebounds. In only his fourth game with Memphis this season, Jones made his first start on Jan. 18 and posted career highs in points (20), rebounds (13), assists (7), steals (3) and minutes played (40). Jones was assigned to the Fort Worth Flyers of the NBA Development League at the beginning of his rookie season last year while with Philadelphia and averaged 13.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in three games.

Energy Knock Off Skyforce 120-105 -by Surujh RoopnarineThe Iowa Energy improved their record to 14-15, winning their fifth straight by defeating the visiting Sioux Falls Skyforce 120-105. Sioux Falls dropped their second straight and fall to 15-16 on the season. Former North Carolina Tar Heel Jackie Manuel (6'5''-G/F-83, college: N.Carolina) led the Energy with 26 points and a game high five steals. The Energy out-shot the Skyforce 53.6% to 41.8% from the field. Carl Elliott (6'4''-G-83, agency: SportsTalent, college: George Washington) was the high man for the Skyforce with a game high 28 points on 9-21 shooting.SKYFORCE: Carl Elliott (28p+6rb+7as+5to), Chris Alexander (18p+18rb), Chris Richard (0p+11rb), Kasib Powell (17p+5rb)ENERGY: Jackie Manuel (26p+8rb+5as+5st), Dwayne Mitchell (19p+8rb), Jeff Horner (14p+8rb+9as), Fabricio Vay (15p)

Most popular basketball web sites on the Internet -by Eurobasket This is the first edition of the ranking of the most popular basketball web sites on the Internet. Eurobasket.com was placed in top 3 in the rank of the most popular basketball web sites on-line.The overall ranking is as usually lead by NBA.com, which has practically no competition in this field.We have to congratulate Euroleague.net which is placed second, thanks to Euroleague new season, which started few months ago.This classification will not change till summer months when Euroleague will end the season and as usually Eurobasket.com will jump back on the second spot.Also FIBA web sites should notice increase in popularity in the summer months, when they start international competitions.Big congratulations to Polish a portal e-basket.pl, which made it to top 10 and is ranked apparently just before World basketball body: FIBA.com.The ranking was prepared by Eurobasket admin team.There were various factors we took under consideration, like overall traffic, database capacity, coverage frequency, coverage scope, Alexa rankings, Google rankings, overall popularity, etc.None of these factors was leading as the final reault below is the combination of all of them.

Important: there were over 30 other basketball web sites, which came close to top 20.

The other ranking is based exclusively on the basketball database capacity (how much data you can find on the web site). So it rules out the web sites, which attract users mostly by catching design, video features, etc. and focuses strictly on the volume of data they provide.Here Eurobasket does not have any competition with the database of over 160,000 profiles and coverage from 193 countries. FIBA.com with their extend basketball database due to international events coverage is ranked on the second place. Of course web sites with detailed U.S. college coverage are placed very high on the list.

Semaine des As '08 : Cholet wins the '08 edition -by Aurelien HippVichy-Cholet in the Semaine des As '08 Final

Vichy-Cholet (11-18, 6-9, 12-19, 11-21) 40-67

As expected, it's a defensive final, with only 29pts scored in the first quarter. The better start is for Cholet and Claude Marquis, but William Gradit scored 6 consecutive points in the transition to give his team the lead. Unfortunately, those were the last points for Vichy before an eternity. Although Nando De Colo (195-G-87) was guarded closely,Cholet had a lot of rythm in offense (Dobbins, Wiggins) to make a 9-0 run and take the lead 18-11 after one period.The second period was worse, with only 15pts scored. Cholet, and especially Alan Wiggins, are really guarding the paint with efficiency. Vichy only shot 8 from 36 at half-time and as a consequence scored 17 little points. A 10-pt gap in this type of game seems a big deal to come back.During the third period, Vichy managed to find more offensive rythm with Wright and Ball. However, Karangwa coudn't throw a brick in the ocean in this game and his team lacked the amount of points he usually brings. Cholet, with a very efficient Wiggins, wins this third quarter 19-12 and is 10 far from a 'Semaine des As' title. A title that brings a place in the ULEB Cup!A last period of no interest, since Cholet was controlling the game, lost since a long moment by Vichy. The ProA newcomers were just exhausted and couldn't resist to a third game in 4 days. Cholet is the new Semaine des As title holder, and the '08 MVP is Nando de Colo, for his second trophy of the year after the All-Star Game MVP award.

*****************************************************GERMANY

Bundesliga Game Day 19: Weekend Results Febuary 9th and 10th! -by Michael TaylorBundesliga Game Day 19 tipped off Saturday night Febuary 9th with top teams ALBA Berlin and Artland Dragons capturing important victories while Bonn and Bremerhaven both won.

Saturday Febuary 9thArtland Dragons 95 Koln 99ers 72Artland put 5 players in double figures and shot 54% from the floor and 53% (8-15) from beyond the arc in beating visiting Koln 99ers 95-72 Saturday night at Artland Arena in Quakenbruck, Germany. After leading 20-15 after 1Q, Koln controlled the 2Q and earned a 41-40 halftime lead. However, out of the lockerroom, Artland broke the game open with a 30-12 3Q to take a 70-53 lead into the 4th. EJ Rowland hit 8 of 10 shots to topscore with 17 points 4 assists for Head Coach Chris Fleming's Dragon team. Big man Darius Hall added 16 points 5 boards and talented wings Leon Rogers and Terrence Thomas chipped in 14pt apiece for Artland. Adam Chubb also contributed 11 points to the victory. A skeleton crew of Kolners played well despite the defections of star players Immanuel McElroy and Aleksander Nadjfeji to rival ALBA Berlin and Toby Bailey to Spain. The 99ers shot 48% from the floor and outrebounded Artland 35-31 in the game. Young post man Yassin Idbihi topscored for Koln with 21pt 5reb followed by Marko Keselj with 13pt 5reb and Derrick Raivio with 11pt 6ast. Dragons improved to 15-4 while Koln fell to 11-8.

ALBA Berlin 77 LTi Giessen 46ers 64ALBA Berlin earned a hardfought 77-64 road win over LTi Giessen 46ers Saturday night in Giessen. The newly reloaded ALBA Berlin lineup jumped to a 21-12 lead after 1Q and held a 34-28 lead at half. A strong 3Q gave Head Coach Luka Pavicevic and his Albatross a 55-44 advantage heading into the 4Q and they cruised to their 15th win of the Bundesliga campaign. ALBA playmaker Bobby Brown topscored with 24pt 5ast followed by All star game MVP Julius Jenkins with 16pt 5ast. Playing their first game with Berlin, Immanuel McElroy scored 4pt with 4reb in 25min while Aleksander Nadjfeji chipped in 8pt 3reb in 15min. Berlin dished out 16ast to 6 turnovers as a team and shot 47% while enjoying advantages in three pointers made (9 to 6) and from the foul line (10 for 16 compared to Giessen's 8 for 15). The 46ers shot 53% from the floor but suffered 13 turnovers and made only 4 of 14 threes (28%). Four Giessen players Obie Trotter, Johannes Lischka, Seamus Boxley and Florian Hartenstein scored 11pt each. Berlin bettered their record to 15-4 while Giessen slipped to 4-15.

Telekom Baskets Bonn 88 Science City Jena 79Winsome Frazier scored a season best 26pt on the strength of a 10 for 12 performance from the foul line as Telekom Bonn beat Science City Jena 88-79 Saturday night at Hardtberghalle in Bonn. Jena started strong opening with a 22-20 lead after 1Q but a 26-17 2Q for Bonn helped Head Coach Michael Koch and his men take a 46-39 halftime lead. Jena battled back taking an 18-14 3Q and trailed 60-57 heading into the 4th. Along with the big game from Frazier, Bonn received strong production from John Bowler (20pt 4reb), Miah Davis (12pt 5ast) and 10pt apiece from Moussa Diagne and JJ Strasser. Both teams shot over 50% from the floor and Bonn outrebounded Jena 33-24. Jena suffered 22 turnovers in the loss and Bonn enjoyed an advantage from the foul line making 27 of 35 free throws (77%) to Jena's 19 of 27 (70%). Three point shooting helped Jena as they sank 10 of 24 (41%) compared with Bonn's 5 for 17 (29%). Lavelle Felton led Jena with 18pt followed by 15pt apiece from Jason Miller and Mark Davis. Bonn moved to 13-6 while Jena dropped to 2-17.

Eisbaren Bremerhaven 78 Walter Tigers Tubingen 75The guests controlled play early taking a 17-12 lead after 1Q but the hosts responded with a strong 2Q and took a 33-32 halftime lead on Bingo Merriex's three pointer at the first half buzzer. After an early 3Q surge from the hosts, Zygimantas Jonusas buried back to back threes to bring Bremerhaven back. Heading into the 4Q the game was even at 56. Down the stretch, Nate Doornekamp made several big baskets and key FT for Bremerhaven as they held off a three point shooting comeback from Tubingen. Merriex and recently signed Jermaine Anderson buried clutch threes as the Tigers fought back. A key three from Jonusas helped Dr Sarunas Sakalauskas and his team maintain their lead and Ray Nixon's desperation attempt to tie from the left wing missed giving Bremerhaven the hardfought road win. Zygimantas Jonusas and Nate Funk played excellent games sharing topscoring honors with 19pt for Bremerhaven while Matt Haryasz added 14pt 8reb. Bingo Merriex sank 6 of 10 threes on his way to a Tubingen best 21pt 8reb followed by 13pt 4ast from Jermaine Anderson and Ray Nixon with 10pt. Both teams shot over 50% with Tubingen making an impressive 14-28 from three compared with Bremerhaven's 9-20. Eisbaren enjoyed a boost from the foul line converting 13 for 16 (81%) compared with Tubingen's 1 for 6 (16%). Bremerhaven also outrebounded the Tigers 33-25 in the win. Bremerhaven upped their record to 10-8 while Tubingen fell to 5-14.

Sunday Febuary 10thEnBW Ludwigsburg 95 ratiopharm Ulm 84EnBW Ludwisgsburg claimed this chapter of the Baden-Wurtemburg Derby with a strong 95-84 win over rival ratiopharm Ulm Sunday night at Porsche Arena in Stuttgart before 4,500 fans. The hosts bolted to a 27-15 lead after 1Q and held a 54-42 advantage at half in contolling play for the majority of the game. Ulm used a variety of defensive looks to trim the deficit to 7 in the 4Q but two big Brandon Woudstra three pointers sealed the exciting Derby win for Head Coach Silvano Poropat and his team. Woudstra topscored with 24pt including 4 of 6 from three while Coleman Collins added 15pt 8reb and Nate Harris and Ronald Ross chipped in 14pt apiece. Ludwigsburg sank 48% of their shots and made 28 of 35 FT (80%). Ulm outrebounded Ludwigsburg 41-27 but suffered 20 turnovers and made only 13 of 22 from the foul line (59%). All Stars Jeff Gibbs (20pt 16reb) and Konrad Wysocki (19pt 5reb) led the Ulm attack with help from EJ Gallup (14pt 4 threes). Ulm captain Emeka Erege also added 14pt on 5 for 6 shooting. Ludwigsburg improves to 9-10 while Ulm evens at 9-9.

Deutsche Bank Skyliners 91 Ewe Baskets Oldenburg 77Five Deutsche Bank Skyliners reached double digits in Sunday's convincing 91-77 home win over Ewe Baskets Oldenburg at Ballsporthalle in Frankfurt. Led by 22pt 6reb from Derrick Allen, Frankfurt also received production from Pascal Roller (19pt 5ast), Jimmy McKinney (15pt 5 for 7 threes), Ilian Evtimov (13pt) and Koko Archibong (11pt 9reb) in the win. Head Coach Murat Didin and his team built an impressive lead going up 25-17 after 1Q and holding a 53-35 advantage at half. Oldenburg fought back in the 3rd but Frankfurt cruised to the win down the stretch. The Skyliners shot 56% from the floor, 59% from three (13-22) and 87% FT (14-16). Rickey Paulding had a big night for Oldenburg scoring 30pt while Branimir Longin hit 4 of 7 threes to add 14pt. Frankfurt moves to 11-8 while Oldenburg falls to 10-9.

Bayer Leverkusen 90 BG74 Gottingen 85Nate Fox scored 26pt with 12reb and Brant Bailey added 20pt 4ast as Bayer Leverkusen earned another home win beating BG74 Gottingen 90-85 Sunday at historic Wilhelm DopatkaHalle in Leverkusen. Gordon Geib scored 13pt and Brendan Winters chipped in 12 for Head Coach Achim Kuczmann's team. Leverkusen shot 46% from the floor and dished out an impressive 27 team assists while outrebounding Gottingen 47-32 in the win. Darren Brooks led Gottingen with 22pt while Selim Mulic and Willie Jenkins added 17pt apiece for the Violets. Gottingen took the action early with a 24-20 lead after 1Q. Leverkusen turned the tide in the 2Q outscoring their guests 30-15 to take a 50-39 lead at half. Leading 70-60 after 3, Leverkusen held off a Gottingen charge to seal the win. Leverkusen improves to 14-5 while Gottingen drops to 7-12.

brose Baskets Bamberg 84 digibu Baskets Paderborn 60Demond Greene drilled 3 of 5 threes to topscore with 17pt leading six Bamberg players in double figures in an 84-60 win over digibu Baskets Paderborn Sunday at JAKO Arena. Along with Greene, Predrag Suput sank 2 of 3 threes to add 13pt, Steffen Hamann contributed 12pt 7ast, Ademola Okulaja added 11pt and recently signed Jared Reiner chipped in 10pt 9reb in his home debut. Tim Black paced Paderborn with 23pt while Greg Jenkins added 11pt 7reb and Steve Esterkamp scored 10. Bamberg shot 50% from the floor while limiting Paderborn to 32% and outrebounded their guests 41-36 in the game. Head Coach Dirk Bauermann and his men built their lead early running to a 27-18 lead after one and adding a 22-12 2Q for a 49-30 halftime lead. Paderborn battled back and won the 3Q 21-14 before the hosts earned the win. Bamberg is now 12-5 while Paderborn slips to 7-12.

Febuary 13th NewYorker Phantoms Braunschweig vs TBB Trier 7pm tip

Bailey from Koeln to Spain -by Moritz KorffAlso Toby Bailey (196-G/F-75, college: UCLA) has now left the Koeln 99ers (1. Bundesliga) and moved to Spain. Bailey was the third key-player who decided to accept the offer from another club after the 99ers filed for insolvency some weeks ago. Without McElroy, Nadjfeji and Bailey the 99ers fell short 72:95 on the road against the Artland Dragons on Saturday.

*****************************************************HOLLAND

MyGuide Amsterdam Puts Clamps On Landstede Again, Wins 5th Straight -by Sanders JacksonSaturday night in the Sporthallen-Zuid, current FEB leader MyGuide continued its stronghold on the league, at Landstede Basketball's expense, winning its fifth straight with an 85-74 win. MyGuide led at one point by as much as 16 pts. and remained in the driver's seat throughout. A glaring difference in the game was the bench strength scoring advantage (22-4 for MyGuide), and poor shooting for Landstede behind the arc (3 for 28). Mohammed Abukar (208-F-85, college: San Diego St.) led five MyGuide players in double figures with 16 pts. Darnell Wilson (198-F-85, college: Canisius) led all scorers with 23 pts. MyGuide are now 22-4 and have a cushion of a five game lead on West-Brabant Giants.

Eiffel Towers Squeak By Aris Friesland -by Sanders JacksonIn Leeuwarden on Saturday night, the defending champions had their work cut out for them in crunch time vs. Aris Friesland, having to hold off a Aris Friesland 4th quarter comeback, but in the end got the job done, winning an 86-85 nailbiter. The numbers game proved too much for Aris, who basically had to go with a six man unit playing the majority of the minutes, while Eiffel had at least a nine-man rotation. Marcel Aarts (212-C-83, agency: R.H.Consultancy) had a strong performance, leading Eiffel with 18 pts. and 10 rebounds. Roy Booker (191-G-83, college: SE Missouri St.) led all scorers and five Aris players in double figures with 23 pts. Eiffel dominated the glass with a 41-23 difference. The win improves Eiffel's record to 15-8, while Aris falls to 5-21.

Hot Jansen Leads Hanzevast Capitals To Win Over Den Helder Seals -by Sanders JacksonSaturday night in the Martiniplaza, injury plagued Hanzevast Capitals had their work cut out for them vs. struggling Den Helder Seals, getting out of a 1st quarter deficit, before getting it right in the 4th quarter got it right, with Rogier Jansen (188-G-84, agency: Court Side) making a big difference, helping lead Hanzevast Capitals to an 89-77 win. Jansen poured in a career-high 34 pts., including making a living at the free throw line (15 of 19 FT's). In all, Hanzevast shot 37 of 44 from the charity stripe. Their pressure defense also forced 27 Den Helder turnovers. Five Donar players had three or more steals. With the win, Hanzevast improves to 15-10.

In their third matchup this season, Matrixx made it a hat trick on reeling ZZ Leiden, once again blowing ZZ out, with a 55-32 halftime lead ZZ could not overcome, with Matrixx cruising to a 107-79 blowout win. It was a good balanced Matrixx team in the scoring department, with six scoring in double figures, Alhaji Mohammed (192-G-81, agency: Beo Basket, college: Louisville) and Chris Copeland (203-F-84, agency: 540 Sports, college: Colorado) combining for 50 pts., Copeland a game-high 28 pts., Mohammed 3 three-pointers. Matrixx also made 11 three-pointers, made 20 for 22 FT's, and forced 21 turnovers. J.S. Nash (188-G-83, agency: Court Side, college: Oregon St.) led ZZ with 21 pts. and had 6 assists and 4 steals. Matrixx are now 17-10.

West-Brabant Win On Road Over Upstairs Weert -by Sanders JacksonIn Weert on Saturday night, West-Brabant continued their strong play in February, maintaining its 2nd place position in the FEB standings with a 92-74 win over Upstairs Weert. Domien Loubry (186-G-85) led six Giants in double figures with 19 pts. West-Brabant also dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Limburgers with a 43-28 advantage, and held Upstairs to 44.2% FG. The Giants are now 17-9 and a half-game ahead of Matrixx Magixx in the FEB standings.

*****************************************************ICELAND

Iceland Express league results. -by Siggi HjorleifssonThor won a very important game today when they beat Stjarnan and moved one win ahead of them. Score Thor 89. Stjarnan 84Robert Reed played his first game for Thor and was a good help inside.Stjarnan shot 42 three point shots. Thor 11.Top scorers for Thor. Cedric Isom 31. Odinn Asgeirsson 24. For Stjarnan. the two Macedonians Dimitar Karadzovski & Jovan Zdravevski 23 each.

Grindavik 108. Tindastoll 78. Easy win for Grindavik who were up by 15 after first quarter. Top scorers for Grindavik. Adam Darboe 23. Pall A Vilbergsson 22. Helgi Jonas Gudfinnson 20. For Tindastol.Joshua Buettner 19.

Tim Cup Final 8 - Semifinals -by Stefano PiniLa Fortezza Bologna-Scavolini Pesaro 88-80La Fortezza Bologna reached the italian cup final for the second year in a row. Bologna's frontline played very well: Luca Garri (207-C/F-82) and Andrea Michelori (202-F/C-78) showed a great defense on the pick and roll, and all the team controlled very well the rebounds (40-28). Travis Best (180-G-72, college: Georgia Tech) led his team in offense: 17 points, 4assists, 3 steals. Pesaro was led by Keydren Clark (173-G-84, college: St.Peter's) that scored 27p. Scavolini suffered Carlton Myers (192-G-71, agency: World Sport Agency) bad night: 0 points in 25'Air Avellino-Angelico Biella 77-63 Angelico-Air was a game dominated in the first half by the pivots. Brandon Hunter (201-F-80, agency: Priority Sports, college: Ohio) against Eric Williams (206-C-84, agency: Priority Sports, college: Wake Forest) was a great duel under the boards. In the second half Avellino's sharpshooters pushed their team. Daniele Cavaliero (189-G-84) scored 12 points in 14', Devin Smith (196-G/F-81, college: Virginia) 14 points and 7 rebounds. Avellino ended the game with 12/25 in three points shots. Biella 3/20. That was the key of the game.

Tim Cup Final 8 - Italian Cup is Green -by Stefano PiniLa Fortezza BO-Air Avellino 67-73 Air Avellino won italian cup. Air played as a team, Marques Green (170-G-82, college: St.Bonaventure) gave 7 assists finding good solutions for the shooters (10/22 by 3 points) and close to the rim (Eric Williams (206-C-84, agency: Priority Sports, college: Wake Forest) had 12+6). But Air made his quality step in this season in defense: 6 blocks, 17 steals for a team well known just for the offensive talent at the beginning of the season. La Fortezza had just 19/29 from the field. Roberto Chiacig (210-C-74) had 12 points and 6 rebounds and was the top scorer of his team with Donnie McGrath (193-G-84, college: Providence). For Avellino is the first victory in this trophy while La Fortezza lost his second final in a row. Devin Smith (196-G/F-81, college: Virginia) was the MVP of the game. He had 18 points with 6/8 by 3 points.

Riyadi Overcomes Champville (116-95) and consolidates first position. -by Wael YamanRiyadi consolidated their first position in the Lebanese League after beating Champville in their home court in Beirut in an open and high scoring game with both teams more interested in displaying scoring capabilities rather than defensive prowess. The game marked the return of Omar Turk who was still recovering from a slight injury that kept him away from the International Dubai Tournament. Riyadi were put under pressure early on in the game as Ghaleb Reda and Merril started strong from behind the arc, while the yellows were focusing on individual plays from Mazen Mneimne and Joe Vogel. Playing against his old team and despite an aggressive defense from Riyadi's prodigal son Mazen Mneimne, Reda was easily penetrating and scoring from outside and below the basket to end the first quarter (26-38) with a three pointer on the buzzer. And even though Riyadi maintained some efficiency on offense, it was clear that the problems were confined to the other end of the court. The Lebanese Champions recovered quickly however, and managed to decrease the gap five minutes into the second quarter as Omar Turk replaced Damon King, with the latter failing to repeat his last-week high scoring performance against Sagesse. With Omar applying a tough defense on Ghaleb Reda, Riyadi's back lines were standing strong against Merril and Estefan. By the halftime break, the deficit had been cut to two points (55-57) in favor of the guests. Riyadi were much more focused coming into the third period, with Damon King, Ismail Ahmad, Omar Turk, Joe Vogel and Ali Mahmoud taking advantage of Champville's increasing frustration following Riyadi's comeback. The yellows recovered some efficiency from downtown to create the break in front of a crumbling Champville defense. The host team was comfortable as the third period ended (86-74), while Coach Ghassan Sarkis was watching the win slip through his fingers. With both Ghaleb Reda and Merril in foul trouble, there was little Champville could do in the last quarter. Joe Vogel and Ismail Ahmad took advantage of the guests' confusion to take control of the paint and the offensive rebounds multiplied for the hosts. With five minutes to go on the clock, it was clear that there was no coming back. Tawbe, Akiki and Akkad managed the last few minutes to book a well earned victory (116-95). Best scorer for Riyadi were Joe Vogel with 29 points followed by Ismail Ahmad (26 pts), Mazen Mneimne (16 pts) Ali Mahmoud (14 pts) and Omar Turk (14 pts). For Champville, Merril had 30 points followed by Ghaleb Reda with 20 points. With this win, Riyadi becomes the sole and undefeated leader of the Lebanese championship and will face United from Tripoli on Wednesday in what could possibly be their toughest league game so far this season. By Khaled Assaad

Good Step for the Lebanese Federation -by Hassan ThiniThe Basketball Fans who are attending the games in the courts this season will have the chance to win a big prizes .

The Lebanese Basketball Federation reached to an agreement with Nissan to have a lottery in the end of the season on a Nissan car.

This step will be followed by other prizes, the fans are receiving entry tickets to attend the games, the lottery will be on the tickets numbers , the lucky winners will receive the prizes at the end of the season.

*****************************************************LIGA AMERICAS

Wadley outstood in Liga de las Americas -by Gianni PascucciQuincy Wadley (193-G-78, agency: CAA Sports, college: Temple) ended the Liga de las Americas with the crown of Champion, thanks to the win of his team, Penarol Mar del Plata, and also as the competition top scorer, having scored 86 points in the three games of the Final Four, for a very good 28,6 ppg percentage. This Temple University alumnus confirmed to be a very good scorer and a team leader. In our opinion, he was also the MVP of the competition.

Santos De San Luis came back from behind to first tie the series and then claim a spectacular win in the semifinal series against Lobos Grises in the Northern Division. On February 7 Santos clinched their second win in the series as they bumped Lobos 107:87. Santos dominated from the start as Arim Abdul Solares (202-F/C-83) and Ramel Allen (210-C-79, college: Bridgeport) put them up early in the encounter. However Corey Anders (192-G/F-76, college: Pacific) scored 6 quick points for Lobos and the visitors surged ahead soon. But not for long though as Arim Abdul Solares kept posting points and led his team to a 24:16 lead after 10 minutes. The hosts opened the second frame with a 12:0 run to make it 20-point gap but Miguel Acuna (181-G-73) came up with some key buckets to trim the deficit back to 10 points at the interval 40:50. Lobos climbed as close as 6 points at the start of the third period but the effort was denied by Ramel Allen. He notched a bunch of free throws and Erron Maxey (198-F-78, college: Providence) added a three-pointer to restore an 18-point margin between the teams. Erron Maxey continued to pile up points for the home team and soon Santos were up by as many as 25 points. Lobos never recovered in the final stages of the game and lost the battle 87:107. Mark Borders (188-G-84, college: Tampa) led the action with 29 points. Arim Abdul Solares added 21 points and 11 boards for the winners. Miguel Acuna replied with 25 points for Lobos in defeat. The decisive third game was played yesterday and Santos proved stronger beating Lobos 106:76. So now Santos will wait for the outcome of another semifinal clash between Fuerza Regia and Soles de Mexicali. Soles lead 2-1 at the moment and could decide on the outcome of the series in Game 4 on February 11.

Most popular basketball web sites on the Internet -by Eurobasket This is the first edition of the ranking of the most popular basketball web sites on the Internet. Eurobasket.com was placed in top 3 in the rank of the most popular basketball web sites on-line.The overall ranking is as usually lead by NBA.com, which has practically no competition in this field.We have to congratulate Euroleague.net which is placed second, thanks to Euroleague new season, which started few months ago.This classification will not change till summer months when Euroleague will end the season and as usually Eurobasket.com will jump back on the second spot.Also FIBA web sites should notice increase in popularity in the summer months, when they start international competitions.Big congratulations to Polish a portal e-basket.pl, which made it to top 10 and is ranked apparently just before World basketball body: FIBA.com.The ranking was prepared by Eurobasket admin team.There were various factors we took under consideration, like overall traffic, database capacity, coverage frequency, coverage scope, Alexa rankings, Google rankings, overall popularity, etc.None of these factors was leading as the final reault below is the combination of all of them.

Important: there were over 30 other basketball web sites, which came close to top 20.

The other ranking is based exclusively on the basketball database capacity (how much data you can find on the web site). So it rules out the web sites, which attract users mostly by catching design, video features, etc. and focuses strictly on the volume of data they provide.Here Eurobasket does not have any competition with the database of over 160,000 profiles and coverage from 193 countries. FIBA.com with their extend basketball database due to international events coverage is ranked on the second place. Of course web sites with detailed U.S. college coverage are placed very high on the list.

Hicks and Lloreda in Italy in the Legabasket Serie A.- -by Eddie MunozThe panamanians Michael Hicks and Jaime Lloreda are developing their carreers in the Legabasket of Italy. Hicks has several years playing in Italy and this season he is playing for SCAVOLINI SPAR Pesaro and has a media of 12.0 Pts. 4.5 Reb. in 28.6 Minutes per game. Scavolini is the 5th place with a 12-10 record. Jaime Lloreda started this season in Lega 2 but now he is Serie A wtih CIMBERIO VARESE with a record of 4-18. In 5 games he has a media of 11.6 Pts., 9.8 Reb. in 27.6 Minutes per game.

Dionisio Gomez in Spain LEB 2 with Qalat Cajasol.- -by Eddie MunozGomez, member fo Qalat Cajasol in LEB 2 in Spain is having acceptables figures this season with 17 games played with 10.8 Pts. 5.7 Reb., in23.25 Minutes per game. Qalat has a record of 8-11. Gomez had played in several countries in South America.

*****************************************************POLAND

Luszczewski back on the floor as a Forward of AZS Koszalin -by Wojciech StrzebinczykJosh Gomes left the club and Przemyslaw Luszczewski (196-F-80, agency: Promotex) signed an agreement with AZS Koszalin. The Forward, who was 1liga Player of the Year in 2006 and last season was top forward of DBE in Znicz Jaroslaw with 9.8ppg, 4.7 rpg, signed a lucrative contract before the season with Polpak Swiecie. He went with Polpak for preseason camp but suffered a serious injury. He spent the last 4 months in rehabilitation and then praciticing with Start Lublin from his hometown. Now he is back on the floor a few days before the transfer deadline in Polish DBE done deal with AZS.

Phil Goss stays in AZS Koszalin -by Wojciech StrzebinczykAfter the injuries of Dante Swanson AZS Koszalin needed to find a good guard. They found a player well experienced in Europe who graduated from Drexler University Phil Goss (186-G-83, agency: Worldwide Hoops, college: Drexel) and just won on a last second shot against Basket Kwidzyn. He has already played in 3 games with averages of 15.3ppg, 1.3rpg, 3.7apg, 1.7 spg during 27mpg (66% 3pt!). Goss spent this season in Israel where he played in Ironi Ashkelon (10 games: 8.3ppg, 1.4apg during 20mpg) and before he was Eurobasket.com All-Turkish League Honorable Mention 2007 with Beykozspor (30 games: 14.0ppg, 4.0apg, 2.6spg) and Dutch Eredivisie All-Star Game 2006 when played for Polynom Giants.

Targu Mures tied UMobitelco in the Romanian Division A standings. Yesterday Targu Mures managed to handle their rivals 78:76 at home. It also became the second straight close loss for UMobitelco as they fell short by just a single point to CSU Ploiesti in the previous round. The game was extra close in the opening frame with neither side giving an inch. The sides were tied at 21 after the first frame but the hosting Targu Mures started to take over in the second quarter. They limited UMobitelco to just 12 points in the second period and grabbed a 6-point advantage at the interval. The cushion widened in the third term as Targu Mures kept on dominating on the court. The hosts held on to a 12-point buffer heading into the fourth quarter. UMobitelco sparked late in the game as they ignited a massive rally to close the gap but it appeared a bit too late. The home team withstood and celebrated their 9th victory in the season. Louis Truscott (198-F-78, college: Houston) provided 23 points and 9 boards for Targu Mures. Bryan McCullough (198-G/F-83, agency: AMI, college: NC-Asheville) contributed 21 points in a winning case. LeVar Seals (194-G-82, agency: Naiditch Entertainment, college: De Paul) responded with 24 points for UMobitelco. Zoran Krstanovic (205-C-82) posted 15 points in a loss. SO now the teams share the 6th spot at 9-7 record. UMobitelco will take on BCM Pitesti next week. Targu Mures will host Gaz Metan on February 16.

Partizan Igokea from Belgrade is experiencing extremely bright moments and it seems that no one can stop them in Serbia and Adriatic region. During the last season and a half black and white team succeeded to reach Euroleague TOP 16 twice, to win Adriatic league for the first time in their history, to keeps dominating in Serbian Superleague (6 consecutive titles) and finally to win National Cup Radivoj Korac after 6 years.

Partizan opened the final game of Radivoj Korac Cup against Hemofarm STADA very well making run 11-2. Later, at the middle of the second period, after successful 3-pointer by Velickovic, they extended lead to 34-13. After that moment Markovic and Vukosavljevic hit couple of attempts from behind the arc decreasing its minus to 10 until the half time. Partizan's head coach Vujosevic exploited this early advantage to rest his best player Nikola Pekovic. Hemofarm touched minus 6 in 25th minute but Partizan quickly get back to 55-45 going into the last quarter with a nice lead. Clutch player of the game was Dusan Kecman, who drained two 3-pointers and the beginning of the last quarter setting the score to 62-45, what was unreachable for Hemofarm until the end.

Radivoj Korac Cup - Partizan Igokea and Hemofarm STADA in the final ! -by Dragan JankovskiPartizan Igokea didn't let the defending champion FMP to reach the final this year. Reining Serbian and Adriatic league champ celebrated 85-73. After equalized first quarter Partizan put into 5th gear and mostly owing to Milenko Tepic went on the half time with plus 14. Later, Partizan extended lead to 19 and when it seemed that the game is over Panthers intensified defense coming closer to minus 6 but it was their maximum last night. Hero of the game was hot prospect Milenko Tepic (198-G-87, agency: Beo Basket), who showed wonderful performance netting 27 points with 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Novica Velickovic (205-F-86) scored 16 points while Nikola Pekovic (210-C-86, agency: Beo Basket) had 14. FMP got 15 points and 4 rebounds from Nemanja Protic (182-G-86). Partizan will have a chance tonight to win National Cup after six years.

In the other semifinal game Hemofarm STADA outplayed Crvena Zvezda 76-68. The main target for Hemofarm's players was to stop the killing tandem Dragicevic - Cook, what they succeeded to do. Game is decided in the last quarter, actually from 34th to 36th minute, when Hemofarm, thanks to Stefan Markovic and Miljan Pavkovic, made bigger lead, which they kept until the end. Center Vladan Vukosavljevic (206-F/C-84, agency: Beo Basket) added 17 points and 5 rebounds for the winners while on the other side Nenad Misanovic (217-C-84) had 15 points and 12 rebounds for Zvezda.

Repeat of Cup Spar final -by Zeljko ZuleHelios will face Union Olimpija in a repeat of last finals of Cup Spar. Helios in semi-finals defetaed Krka 89-70 and Union Olimpija easily crushed an injury-plagued Luka Koper 87-61. Helios never trailed, opened the game with 10 straight points and early in third quarter posted 9 consecutive points. Aljaz Janza (185-G-81) and Dario Krejic scored 17 points apiece, Jack Ingram added 16 and Domen Zerak 15 while Davor Marcelic lead Krka with 23 points Olimpija in first quarter netted 13 consecutive points and led as many as 18 points, Ronnell Taylor paced six scorers in double figure with 13 points and Sasa Doncic was ejected in first half and will miss the finals game. Blaz Rucigaj had 18 points and 9 rebounds for Koper.Semifinals: Krka-Helios 70-89, Luka Koper-Union Olimpija 61-87.

*****************************************************SPAIN

MVP Rudy Inspires DKV Joventut to Copa Del Rey Glory -by Paul NilsenCOPA DEL REY FINAL 10.02.07 TAU CERAMICA 80 DKV JOVENTUT 82A sublime 32 point performance by MVP Rudy Fernandez (197-G-85) resulted in DKV Joventut being crowned as 2007/08 Copa Del Rey Champions after beating Tau Ceramica on their home-court.Both teams started the Copa final with their form players with the exception of Mallet for Joventut as Badalona went with Rubio, Rudy, Lavina, Sonseca and Jagla while Tau were favouring Prigioni, Rakocevic, Teletovic, Mickeal and Splitter.Rakocevic scored the first points of the Copa while Jagla opened Badalona's account with a three, continuing from where he left off in the semi-finals before fouling out. He then repeated the trick with a little help off the backboard from further out before the impressive big man Sonseca handed the Catalan club an 8-2 lead inside four minutes.Jagla was back in the action within seconds after a big foul on Tiago Splitter who went up for a strong dunk but just failed to convert.Tau were looking to get Prigioni to penetrate and twice he gave up a look at the basket on his way to the hoop to dish the ball back outside and on the second occasion he found Rakocevic to nail a three and get the Baskonia fans off their seats for the first time since the tip.The first main change in the game came when the ineffective Teletovic was withdrawn for Muoneke but Tau still had a slow start and found offence a problem as they had in the semi-final having only six points in the first seven minutes against 11 from DKV. Their cause was helped when Fernandez was called for a travel and then a foul in quick succession and the home team went on to score the next four points with two free-throws from Mickeal and a tremendous cut to the hoop by Prigioni as the shot clock ebbed away.Mickeal then handed Tau the lead with 90 seconds to play and amid a cacophony of boos and jeers, a tip-in from Fernandez swung it back to Penya. The crowd really got into the game in the dying stages of the opening period after a mistake by the referee looked to have let a Badalona turnover go unpunished but the officials changed their minds and handed the ball to Tau.Some great interplay between Planinic and Splitter allowed Muoneke to convert with a lay-up under the basket in traffic and that gave Joventut the chance to have the final shot of the quarter but Rudy turned the ball over under some great defensive pressure from Mickeal and Tau got the ball back with 5.3 seconds to go but they too turned the ball over.After looking sluggish at the start, Coach Spahija looked pleased with the 8-2 run in the last three minutes and coming out for the second quarter, Tau were definitely a team in the ascendancy and the powerful direct approach of Mickeal again reaped rewards as he was fouled inside and converted both the basket and bonus point.Muoneke drilled a three in between two unsuccessful perimeter efforts by Badalona who looked a little tired after the previous nights work against Madrid and the six early turnovers were evident also of this. A tough move by Rubio that ended in a fade away shot drew gasps from the crowd before McDonald produced a nice spin move to respond for Tau. They continued to look for him inside while Badalona began to rely far too much on perimeter shooting which began to let them down with a series of open looks rimming out to the agony of the Penya fans trying to make themselves heard against the partisan home support.After his poor showing in the semi-final McDonald was really making up for it with a great hustle rebound and put back to put Tau 25-16 ahead with four minutes to go until the half.It was already looking like a game too far for Joventut and they would have to really get something special from the quiet Fernandez if they were to have any chance of combating the passion of the Basque fans whose energy was clearly lifting the players.A Prigioni three-pointer right in the corner looked to have put a real dagger into Badalona hearts with a first double-figure lead but an unsportsmanlike foul by Baskonia gave the ice cool Sonseca the chance to convert two free-throws and for Fernandez to score with a nice little floating shot after wisely giving up the chance of a three to drive towards the hoop.Happy minutes earlier the home crowd were then incensed and the chants of anger were directed at the match officials after an offensive foul on their side followed by a missed tra vel and the ball being handed to Badalona for Rudy to score their sixth point in a row.The anger felt by Tau was perhaps then behind the decision of McDonald to go baseline and slam down an aggressive dunk but a technical foul on Mickeal, his third of the game for abusing the referee handed DKV the chance of four free-throws plus the ball with Rudy making them pay by scoring all bonus points and then repeating his sweet floating shot from moments earlier. It was to prove to be a real error by Mickeal in the context of the game.The six points in 15 seconds put a whole new reflection on the game at 30-28 and Tau began to feel some pressure for the first time with Teletovic turning the ball over. Just when Rudy looked like talking over, the referee bravely called a carry and a time-out left Tau with the ball and a minute until the halfway break.The force was back in the hands of Badalona but Teletovic was brave enough to try his hand at a three-pointer having turned the ball over on the previous offence and fortune favoured him. It was certainly the case that the referees seemed to be favouring Joventut and another call on the final possession had the Tau fans purple with rage.Mallet scored a lay-up on the buzzer to ensure his side went in only 33-30 behind and despite their team being ahead, Tau were running off court with Badalona with several objects being hurled onto the court amidst intense whistling and jeering towards the three men in orange.The second half started with Mallet at the point for Joventut instead of Rubio and Fernandez struck a three to tie the game up immediately . After a Splitter tip rebound, the faith shown by Reneses in Mallet was proven as he scored again with some great penetration.A 6-0 Tau burst inspired by Splitter was broken by a Mallet three-pointer but instantly Tau were off an running with the Badalona point guard on his backside for a quick score by Rakocevic and bonus point.The tempo of the game began to really pick up and Lavina nailed a trey before two great moves through the lane by Rakocevic and Rudy at each end. Fernandez then hit Joventut's fourth three of the quarter to get within one point of the hosts at 47-46.Teletovic then hit a three from the corner after some great ball movement by Tau only for Fernandez to reply with a classy move. He saw a chink of light and opened the door fully, slicing through the Tau defence to score with an arching lay-up high off the glass.Popopvic came from nowhere to complete two nice inside moves either side of a strong Splitter post move while Mickeal produced the rebound of the game up until that point to also get the put back and send Tau 58-53 up.Rubio then had the chance of the last possession of the quarter only to turn it over off his own foot to give Tau the ball. Incredibly Tau then spilled it themselves and it was Rubio himself who made amends by scoring on the buzzer to ensure a one shot game going into the final ten minutes at 58-55.The quarter started late after two successive court invasions by individuals holding placards and making political statements but they were given the bird by the crowd who rightly jeered them off the court as they were taken away by security personnel. Fernandez continued in the final quarter where he left off in the third when he scored ten points with another three-pointer after two free-throws by Rakocevic.The impressive Demond Mallet struck with a three-pointer to narrow to 62-61 and then Rudy was fouled taking a three pointer and went to the line to give Joventut the lead for the first time in the second half.Mallet who has been excellent in the tournament then struck another three and got the visiting fans really pumped up with their side four points ahead at 63-67 and five minutes left in the game.The pendulum appeared to be swinging towards Badalona after a Popovic put back extended their lead but Teletovic pulled out a three from the corner to ease the pressure on Tau.Sonseca then scored quickly inside but the final came alive for Teletovic who drilled another three and then after a rare Fernandez air-ball made an inside score for eight successive points for him.It gave Tau the lead again at 72-71 and a time out by Coach Reneses with just over three minutes set up another thrilling ending so typical of a terrific Copa tournament. Jagla hit a three straight from the restart and after Rakocevic free-throws it was 74-74. Rudy went to the hoop and got a bucket after a goal tending call.Tau turned the ball over and Rudy broke away to slam down a dunk and spark chants of MVP from the DKV fans in raptures with their side four points ahead at 78-74 and just 90 seconds from a trophy.But Teletovic was still feeling it big time and he hit another three from the corner before both sides then turned the ball over. Rubio went to the line with 28 seconds left and scored both to force a time out by Tau 80-77 behind.Teletovic tried to nail another but this time his luck had run out and Mallet ended up with the ball and back on the line in front of the celebrating Badalona fans who knew their time was about to arrive for some deserved silverware.And so it was as he nailed them both. Teletovic hit a consolation three but the celebrations began with Rudy Fernandez cutting down both nets ahead of his MVP award.Teletovic was top man for Tau but 32 points from Fernandez told the whole story although 15 points from Demond Mallet at times when the game was slipping away should not be underestimated.

Toby Bailey in Manresa -by Francisco MartinezRicoh Manresa has announced the new signing of the team. His name is Toby Bailey (196-G/F-75, college: UCLA), who comes from Koln 99ers. Toby Bailey has a lot of experience in Europe after playing with teams like Imola, Panionios, and AEK. He won the NCAA title with UCLA and then was drafted by Lakers, although he was inmediately traded to the Phoenix Suns, where he played for one year before his luck ran out in the NBA. He replaces Matt Walsh, who was signed by Belgian team Spirou Charleroi yesterday.

The Tigers (17-5, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) took command quickly with sizzling shooting that lasted all game. They outscored Virginia 27-5 over a span of about 7 minutes in the first half, connecting on 10 of 13 shots overall and seven 3-pointers.

Rivers had three, Cliff Hammonds and Terrence Oglesby two 3s each in the run, which gave the Tigers a 36-14 lead. The Cavaliers never got closer than 14 as Clemson gained its biggest road victory in ACC play. They won at Florida State by 29 in 1998.

Virginia (11-10, 1-7) trailed by 16 at halftime and by as many as 38 thereafter. Co-champions with North Carolina in the ACC just a year ago, the Cavaliers lost their fifth straight, for the eighth time in nine games and matched their worst start in the league since the 2004-05 season. That's also the last time they lost five in a row.

Rivers scored 16 points in the first half and was 4-for-5 from 3-point range, and he wasn't the only one making most everything. The Tigers were 8-for-14 on 3s for the half, then made 7 of their first 10 in the second half, a sizzling 62.5 percent.

Hammonds added 16 points, Oglesby 14 and David Potter 10 for the Tigers.

Adrian Joseph was the only Virginia player who kept them in the game during the first half. He scored 15 of their first 22 points and finished with 19. Sean Singletary scored 14, but had six with no assists and four turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.

The Cavaliers made only two field goals in a span of nearly 13 first-half minutes, and Joseph had both - a 3-pointer that made it 9-9 and a layup that made it 31-14.

Virginia trailed 40-24 at the break, and that was after closing the half with a 10-4 run. They had 14 turnovers, eight field goals and just two assists in the half.

The Cavaliers last year were getting drummed at Clemson and then shocked even coach Dave Leitao by scoring the last 15 points to win 64-63, but hope that they would begin another dramatic comeback was extinguished quickly following the intermission.

Spongy 17pts .... but Marist falls to Siena -by Don FarrellPOUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist men's basketball team fell to Siena for the second time in five days, as the Saints earned a hard-fought 97-88 overtime victory before a sellout crowd at the McCann Center on Friday. The Red Foxes dropped their third straight, as they fell to 14-10 overall and 8-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Siena's Kenny Hasbrouck led all scorers with 35 points, and also added a team-high six rebounds and three steals in 43 minutes, as the Saints improved to 15-8 overall and 10-3 in the MAAC.

Freshman guard Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, Md.) came off the bench to lead Marist with 19 points. Senior center Spongy Benjamin (St. Francis Village Erin, Trinidad) added 17 on 6-for-7shooting from the field and 5-for-6 shooting from the line while tying for the team lead with eight rebounds with red-shirt senior forward Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio), who scored 16. Red-shirt freshman guard Dejuan Goodwin (Baltimore, Md.) tied his career high with 14, and red-shirt sophomore guard David Devezin (Houston, Texas) finished with eight points and eight assists.

Siena led by as much as 15 in the first half, as the Saints marched out to a 25-10 lead with 10:01 left in the first half. From there, Marist outscored Siena 27-16 for the rest of the half to cut the Saints' halftime lead to four.

The Red Foxes continued to claw their way back in the second half, and took their first lead of the game on a basket by Gavin with 14:11 remaining. Marist expanded its lead to seven on two occasions, but back-to-back Siena three-pointers by Hasbrouck and Edwin Ubiles gave Siena a 74-71 lead with 3:35 to play. A three-pointer by Marist's Ben Farmer (Clinton, Conn.) tied the score at 74 apiece. Siena's Tay Fisher answered with a three on the ensuing possession to give the Saints back the lead. With 40 seconds to play, Stilphen's three-pointer put Marist up 79-77. Siena tied the score at 79 when Hasbrouck put back a Ubiles miss with 15 seconds remaining. Neither team got off a shot on its final possession of regulation. Marist shot .727 (16-for-22) in the second half.

Alex Franklin's basket 11 seconds into overtime put Siena up 81-79, and the Saints never relinquished the lead after that. Marist cut it to one on two occasions, but Siena led by as much as 10 in the extra five minutes as the Saints outscored the Red Foxes 18-9 in that time frame. Siena was 5-for-7 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in overtime.

The Red Foxes shot .544 (31-for-57) for the game, while Siena was .500 (33-for-66). Both teams were 8-for-16 from three-point range. Siena was .767 (23-for-30) from the free-throw line, while Marist was .750 (18-for-24). Marist outrebounded Siena 38-28, but the Red Foxes committed 18 turnovers, while the Saints had just eight.

DREXEL STOMPS TOWSONFrank Elegar (206-C-86) came off the bench to score 13 points and pull down eight rebounds to help lead the Drexel Dragons (10-15, 3-10 CAA) to a 65-51 win over the Towson Tigers in Colonial Athletic Association action at the Daskalakis Center.Drexel knocked down 52.4 percent from the field in the first half and outscored the Tigers at the charity stripe, 13-2, en route to a 37-24 edge at the break.In the second half the Dragons dipped to a mere 30.8 percent from the field, but with Towson making only 26.7 percent, including 1-of-9 behind the three- point line, the home team still cruised to the 14-point triumph.The Tigers made just 5-of-20 shots out on the perimeter and were outscored at the free-throw line overall, 23-12.

Hector Romero lacks minutes with Montepaschi Siena in Italy -by Francisco VegaVenezuelan forward Hector Romero (202-F-80) continues to lack minutes with his team in Italy's Lega Basket A, Montepaschi Siena, and during the week, he was not considered among the players that were used in the Coppa Italia match that Siena lost against Scavolini Spar Pesaro, 79-78, in the Quarter Finals round.

Siena's 20-2 record puts them at the top of the standings in the domestic action, while they're also among the teams that advanced to the second round of the prestigious Euroleague. Romero arrived to Siena after he was released by Legea Scafati, where he averaged 13.0 points and 6.9 rebounds. The 28 year-old player was replaced by argentinian Ruben Wolkowyski (207-C-73) and from then on, he's only played 29 minutes in 3 games with averages of 3.0 points and 1.3 rebounds per outing.

His time in Italy has been quite the opposite to all his previous international experiences, starting in New Orleans (NCAA/USA), and with stops at LG Sakers (Korea), Ramat Hasharon (Israel), AEL Larissa (Greece) and Polaris Murcia (Spain). The other Venezuelan in Italy is Oscar Torres (195-F/G-76), who belongs to UPIM Fortitudo Bologna and averages 9.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per match after finally recovering of injuries in his right knee.

Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Baloncesto is already in preseason for its 2008 edition, with the addition of two new franchises. In the process, loans, signings, releases and imported players hunting takes place on a daily basis on and off the court, in the front offices. Players continue to talk about their future and what they hope and the media is there to hear what they have to say. Here's a round-up on Venezuelan LPB teams.

GUAIQUERIES DE MARGARITA-No imported players signings have taken yet, at least officialy, according to their press manager, David Nilo. Rogers Washington (202-F-77) is one option, but they haven't reached an agreement.-The team signed Ludwing Irazabal (201-C/F-73), a former power forward and center of Trotamundos de Carabobo. 'He's gonna bring positive things to us, like his knowledge, strength, experience, rebounds, defense and other things. He's a close to the basket player and that's vital for us right now. His arrival will improve us in our rotation and I'm sure his presence is gonna make us a better team', said puertorrican head coach Julio Toro after he was informed of the transaction.-Herbert Bayona (211-C-78) is in the United States but is expected next week.-National press has mentioned the name of Lorenzo Trudo (201-F-80) as one of the imported players already signed, but that's yet to be confirmed by the team's general management.

COCODRILOS DE CARACAS-Reached an agreement to bring back Kevin Freeman (201-F-78) and also signed Kelley McClure (186-G-74). The team also has bahamanian Aaron Eneas (202-F-78) and dominican Manuel Fortuna (187-G) in trainings. Patrick Culver (208-C-84) is also with the team. They have to play Liga Sudamericana against Boca Juniors (Argentina), Universo BRB (Brazil) and Regatas de Lima (Peru) by the final week of the month of February.-Let Grady Osorio (193-F-87) travel back to Barquisimeto to join Guaros de Lara's trainings as a loan.-Head coach is Nestor Salazar

GAITEROS DEL ZULIA-Diario Panorama reported the signing of Brian Greene (196-G/F-84), recommended by Ruben Nembhard (191-G-72) himself, as a new imported player.-The team is negotiating the finantial arrangement of Miguel Angel Marriaga (207-C-84) so that he can join trainings in Maracaibo.-Hernan Salcedo (198-F-80) is not going to play in Argentina after his experience in Mexico and will apparently play for Gaiteros this season.-Askia Jones (196-G-71) arrived from the United States to join the team. He also has the Venezuelan passport and is a former member of the Senior NT.-Head coach is Jorge Arrieta

MARINOS DE ANZOATEGUI-Announced the signing of Hardy Asprilla (196-F/G-82), a Senior NT of Colombia member who was actually born in Socopo, Venezuela. He played in the NCAA in the United States.-Announced that they will not bring Jermaine Tate to the country because he's injured and they're actively looking for a replacement for the paint.-Carlos Morris (194-F-75) and Victor Luces (188-G-77) have been loaned to Deportivo Tachira for 2008. Morris had been acquired in a trade from Gatos de Monagas in exchange for guard Ernesto Mijares (190-G-76).-Franklin Lucena, Deivis Aranguren (192-F-85) and Henry Caten (201-F-80) have been loaned to Panteras de Miranda for 2008.-Acquired Kervis Ramirez (190-G-78) and Sonny Reyes (180-G-86) from Guaros de Lara in a one-year 'trade/loan' in which they sent Rafael Guevara (194-F-79) and Erick Herrera (184-F-80) to Guaros.-The other imported players signed so far are dominican Alejandro Flores (201-F) and american guard Steve Logan (182-G-80)-Head coach is american Keith LeGree

Daniel Garcia dancing Gaitas -by Wolfgang LucenaPaul Romero, president of Gaiteros Del Zulia, didn't hesitate to get in touch with Daniel Garcia (193-G/F), at soon as he found out about this 6'5'' lefty shooting guard, who was born in Caracas, Venezuela.As everybody knows, Gaiteros Del Zulia always gets room for new talents; Daniel has been played 2 years at NCAA level and 2 years at NAIA level as well. Florida International University (FIU) was his first big step towards this level and then, he was moved forward, looking for better opportunity in the basketball court until he finished his university career at Florida Memorial University(FMU). His final stats are witness of his good level; 15.93 points per game, 5.86 rebounds, 1.82 assist, 1.86 steals and he lost 2.46 balls.

In a conference call, Daniel Garcia (193-G/F), didn't miss the opportunity to thanks to Paul Romero, President of the Musical team, for the chance that he is receiving from him in his Professional Basketball Organization as Gaiteros Del Zulia.'I'm very excited…I'm looking forwards to participate in the next level, especially because it will happen in the country of my birth. I am going to do my bests as a professional and make my dreams come true. In Venezuela, the sky is the limit,' Daniel Garcia

David Cubillan scored 11 points but Marquette lost against Notre Dame -by Francisco VegaVenezuelan shooting guard David Cubillan (183-G-87) put 11 points off the bench for the Marquette Golden Eagles, but they were unable to defeat Notre Dame Fighting Irish as visitors and lost 86-83, in another night of the NCAA basketball 2007-2008 season in the United States.

Cubillan played 20 minutes, scored one of two two-point shots and three of six three-point attempts, commited two fouls and performed one assist. Notre Dame extended its home winning streak to 34 matches, the last defeat being precisely against Marquette back in February of 2006. The top scorers for the Fighting Irish were Luke Harangody (203-F-88) with 18 points and Tory Jackson (178-G-88) with 14, while for Marquette, Dominic James (180-G-86) netted 23 points and Lazar Hayward (198-F-86) followed him with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Pablo Machado helps Oviedo to lead EBA in Spain -by Francisco VegaVenezuelan center Pablo Machado (207-C-77) scored five points and grabbed seven rebounds but left early due to the foul limit, and his team, Domo Residencial Oviedo, got surprised as visitors by Rhino's Xiria 68-60. The defeat still didn't affect their condition of standing leaders in Spain's EBA, the fifth division of basketball in the country and which just played round 17 of the regular season calendar.

Machado, 2.07m tall, participated during 29 minutes, scored two of seven two-point shots attempted and one free-throw in four chances. Among his seven rebounds, two were in the offensive end, he lost three ball posessions and commited five fouls.

Jose Mikulas (196-F-82) and Jose Rama (196-F-69) led Xiria with 19 and 12 points. Javier Rodriguez (201-F-81) was stellar for the defeated side with 21 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Adrian Macia (-76) with 13. In his previous match, Pablo Machado had netted 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for a double-double in a comfortable victory against CB Galicia, 87-68. He started the season at a higher league in Spain, LEB Bronze, but his former team, Estructuras Torrevieja, folded due to a poor finantial situation.

Bulleen edges Dandenong to stay in race for playoff -by Eurobasket NewsThe Bulleen Boomers claimed a 67:59 win over the Dandenong Rangers to cut the distance to the fourth spot in the ladder that guarantees the playoff birth. The victory also marked yet another Michelle Timms Cup title for the winners. Dandenong could have secured their post-season appearance but were unable to prevent the loss. The Rangers got to a better start and accumulated a 32:28 halftime lead. But the Boomers stroke back after the break as they outscored their opponents 20:10 in the third stanza and surged ahead to a 48:42 advantage after 30 minutes of action. The Rangers tried hard to change the course of the encounter but were well kept away by the hosts. Bulleen finalized a vital win and still retained the chances of reaching playoffs. Emma Randall (188-C-85) provided 15 points and 9 boards to lead the Boomers. Sharin Milner (162-G-80, college: Troy) delivered 15 points, while Desiree Glaubitz (177-G-79) added 12 points and 9 boards for the winners. Caitlin Ryan (178-G-81) answered with 14 points for Dandenong. Shelley Hammonds (188-F-83, agency: LBM Management) dropped 10 points in a losing effort. Now Bulleen needs to win the remaining game against Bendigo and hope that the Rangers lose both of their games scheduled. Meanwhile the Bendigo Spirit lost all the chances to make it to the playoffs with a bitter defeat from the Christchurch Sirens 68:72 at the Cowles Stadium. Lamisha Augustine (186-F-82, agency: LBM Management, college: San Jose St.) was a key figure in the sizzling first frame from the Sirens as they built a 30:15 lead. Christchurch who are deadly dangerous at the home court continue to prove the status in the second quarter stretching the lead to as many as 17 points. The Spirit had to win the game to keep their playoffs hopes alive and threw everything they had to try and change the complexion of the game. They trimmed the gap to 5 points late in the third stanza and trailed by 7 points entering the fourth period. Bendigo finally managed to deny the deficit and spur in front 68:67 with just over 2 minutes remaining. However the Sirens were still luckier at the end. Charmain Purcell (180-G/F-79) and Noni Wharemate (171-G-82, college: UTEP) scored key buckets for the hosts to lead them to a tight 9th home victory in the season. Donna Wilkins accounted for 24 points to pace the home team. Lamisha Augustine drained 15 points for Christchurch. Karen Ashby (185-F-79) scored 19 points for the Spirit.

*****************************************************ESTONIA - Women

TLU/Volta loses to Tallinna Kalev -by Eurobasket NewsTLU/Volta unexpectedly stumbled when they fell short to Tallinna Kalev 68:70 in the last round of Mestriliiga. Kalev took over from the start and built a 20:17 lead 10 minutes into the encounter. TLU/Volta evened the game in the second term but just to clip the deficit to 2 points at halftime. Kalev continued to dictate the pace and stroke with an 18:12 third frame to clear off to a 10-point distance 51:41. TLU/Volta finally shook off their slumber in the fourth period and tried to recover at crunch time but it was too late. Jennifer Lingor (178-G/F, college: Centenary) hit key treys to seal the winning outcome for the visitors. Jennifer Lingor dropped 23 points for Tallinna Kalev. Anzela Okuneva (174-G-84) provided 19 points, 9 boards and 5 assists for the winners. Heila Rosenfeldt (172-G-83) secured 20 points and 7 boards for TLU/Volta. Ashley Wallace (183-C-85, college: Pace) hit 14 points and 10 boards in defeat. Kalev sank 50% from the field and held the home team to 35% accuracy. At the same time TLU/Volta outrebounded Kalev 38:29 and forced the guests to 20 turnovers. Tallinna Living used the loss of TLU/Volta to go atop of the ladder. They overcame BC Star 77:53 away from home to improve to 14-2 record. BC Star opened the game aggressively and won the first frame 15:9 to stun the visitors for some time. But Reet Rausberg managed to shake his team up in the first intermission and Tallinna Living came out firing from all guns in the second period. They thrashed the hosts 25:6 to claim the lead for good in this one. Kati Rausberg (172-G-89) led the team's effort with 19 points. Pirgit Puu (170-G-88) added 13 points and 5 boards for the winning side. Davineia Payne (175-G-83, college: La Salle) answered with 18 points and 10 boards for BC Star.

SM-sarja, Round 26: Catz (Lappeenranta) crushed Alku (Forssa) on Sunday by 48 pts. Catz was scoring in 20 minuters as many pts as Alku in the game.Yelena Solovyeva (189-C-75) led Catz with 22 pts and 11 rbs.

Szombathely: Now -by Tamas Palko'Now or never' said local newspaper at Szombathely of saturday's game between Savaria and BEAC. Szombathely was without win, and BEAC can only beat Nagykanizsa, so the two teams were the last two in the league table. In the first period BEAC was dominating, and made a 9 point lead. And after the first period Szombathely played better (or BEAC player worse), so the lead became lower. At 40-42, BEAC received a technical foul, so Szombathely could equalize the match. After a timeout for BEAC, the team could make a lead to 43-53 in the 32. minute. But Szombathely could score 27 points in the last 8 minute (Szabadfi throws two triples in a minute), and BEAC scored only 11 points, so Szombathely won this match.

Monique Martin leaving KR -by Siggi HjorleifssonMonique Martin (180-G, college: Brewton Parker) KR guard/forward has to leave KR because of foot injury. This is a big loss for KR team. Martin is one of the best foreign player to play in Iceland womens league.She is average 36.8 points 13.7 rebounds & 4.1 steals. Great athlete and all around player.

Round 16:Liron Cohen destroyed Ros Casares and Perfumerias caught in Vigo -by Ivan VillarSan Jose Leon is reliable candidate to fight for tittles.Yesterday team of Miguel A. Estrada defeated Ros Casares thanks to great performance of Liron Cohen.Leon's guard scored 33 points being MVP of round.She destroyed valencia team from 3 points line (7/8) and free throw line (10/11).She was unstoppable during all game (9 received faults).Ros Casares seemed to be tired for Euroleague games and arrives to Queen's Cup of Sevilla in worst moment.Marina Ferragut and Delisha Milton scored 17 points each one but weren't quite to win in Leon.Great game played in Zaragoza where home team got new decisive win to run away of last positions.Cuadrat's team needed an overtime after overcoming 8 points in last quarter.Soeli Garvao (19 p-9 reb),Paula Palomares (22 p) and Franciele Nascimento (16 p-20 ef) were triangle who let survive their team in league.25 points and 14 rebounds were great numbers again for Lecoe Willingham,candidate number 1 to season's MVP.Cadi La Seu played a final against Rivas Futura to escape from lower positions.Catalan team broke game in 3rd quarter with partial of 19-9.Silvia Santos leaded her team with 17 points and Cathy Joens (18 p-20 ef) was best player of Madrid' team.Hondarribia breathes after defeating Extremadura Dato by 13 points.Liene Jansone scored 23 points and gained 9 rebounds for give first win of new coach Manel Sanchez.Amra Dapo was only one argument of Badajoz's team with 26 points (6/7 in 3 points throws).Father won to son in Ibiza after Jordi's Fernandez team trashed Isaac Fernandez's team.Family score is tied 1-1.However this time galician team arrived tired (11% in 3 points throws)from Israel (FIBA Eurocup's game) and couldn't stop best team of last months.Silvia Morales confirmed her great shape with 17 points and 6 assists.Crazy game in Burgos which won a final to Gran Canaria.Team of Mingo Diaz began with 6-25 partial but Tito Sobrin's team overcome situation with 29-8 in second quarter.Paola Ferrari (16 p) and Anna Cruz (21 p) rescued her team to avoid last positions.Gran Canaria go into dangeraus situation for bad moment of Tuukkanen and Hodges,while Reeta Piipari is on fire after scoring 26 points.Bomb happened in Vigo where Miguel Mendez's team surprised Perfumerias Avenida.Pilar Valero is living new youth and was best player with 15 points.Probably Perfumerias was tired after Euroleague games of week.Next weekend Queen's Cup of Sevilla which seems to be open after last bad results of favourites teams.Liron Cohen (173-G-82)

Murrah powers past Warren Central -by David EdoleAs hot as Warren Central was from the perimeter, it still could not catch up with the nation's sixth-ranked team Friday night at WC.

Murrah (24-1) withstood a barrage of nine made 3-pointers by the Lady Vikes, including a 65-foot bank shot by point guard Karnina Bunch to end the third quarter, to take a 65-56 win. LSU signee LaSondra Barrett, one of the nation's top-rated players by many recruiting services, had a double-double with 23 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

'When I saw that shot go in I thought, is this a dream?' Barrett said of Bunch's shot. 'Warren Central is a very good team, especially under Coach (Donny) Fuller. And they shot it well from the perimeter, but they couldn't match up with us inside. When the game got tight, I moved to the block and was able to find the open girl and they finished their shots.'

That was something WC (15-12) had trouble doing in the final four minutes. Down just 57-54 with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left, the Lady Vikes missed their next nine shots in a row.

On the Murrah side, Barrett, who was being watched by LSU coach Van Chancellor, directed a decisive 8-0 run to put the contest away. Three times the 6-foot, 1-inch forward caught the ball with her back to the basket and was able to drop step her defender for either a basket or an easy pass to Murrah's other two 6-footers in the post in Brandi Simmons and Kierra Dampier for a basket. The trio made three baskets to go with two free throws from Tanecka Carey to put Murrah up 65-54 with 1:34 left.

Bunch finally ended WC's drought with a layup with two seconds left to account for the final WC points. With both Chancellor and a University of Louisville assistant coach in attendance, it was Bunch who made the biggest leap forward with her team-best 22 points and five assists. Fifteen of her points came on 3-pointers, all well behind the line. 'I just played hard. We knew how good Murrah is -- sixth in the nation,' said Bunch, a junior. 'I mean, we did well considering (Sha'Kayla) Caples didn't have her best game offensively. We just went through a stretch at the end where we couldn't make nothing.'

Caples, the two-time Vicksburg Post Player of the Year, went 3-for-16 from the floor. She had just two points at the half and finished with nine for the game.

'Karnina had a great game,' Fuller said. 'She stepped up big. I thought Brittany Erves and Vernadette Hale stepped up. But to play the No. 6 team in the country to nine points with our best player having her worst offensive game of the year says something. I still thought K (Caples) did some really good things. She played some of her best defense of the year. She just had an off night shooting.

'Overall, I'm really proud of the way our kids played.'

Murrah, whose only loss this season was to Brookhaven, was able to counter WC's eight first-half 3-pointers by making 17 of 30 shots (57 percent). Barrett had 17 points by halftime as the Lady Mustangs led 39-34.

The pace slowed in the third quarter and Murrah went up seven before a basket by Caples and a 3-point play by Bunch made it 44-42. Murrah was up 50-46 when Bunch dialed in her 65-footer to make it 50-49.

'I can hit that shot, but that's the longest one I've ever made,' Bunch said.

Simmons had 17 points and nine rebounds for Murrah. Tamecka Carey, another one of the state's top juniors, had 14, including 12 on four 3-pointers.

Heather Casey had nine points, all on 3-pointers, for WC.

Javois scored 39/ Edwards good game -by David EdoleYanique Javois (176-G-86, college: St.Louis) had a career high 39 points, five assists, three blocks and two steals against the 22nd ranked Emporia State Hornets in an outstanding effort but the Griffons still lost at home, in the MWSU Fieldhouse, on Saturday 100-87. The Griffons fall to 9-11 overall and 4-8 in the MIAA.

She hit almost every open jumper when she had the opportunity. She also ran the floor beating the Lady Hornets down the floor for easy lay-ups.

Javois had 19 points in the first half alone, making an amazing 8-of-12 from the field and 3-of-3 from three point land. Javios and Jill Johnson led the charge in the first half as the Griffons controlled the tempo most of the way.

Johnson added 16 points in the first half on 6-of-10 shooting. Together the two were 14-of-22 from the field and scored 35 of the Griffons' 48 points. Their contributions led to a 48-45 halftime lead for the Griffons who came out with a lot of energy early.

In the second half Javios kept her hot hand going, shooting 8-of-15 from the field in a desperate effort to keep the Griffons in the game although it was not enough.

Late in the game, the Griffons lack of a bench seemed to come into effect as they started to turn the ball over more frequently. This led to many opportunities for the Emporia State Hornets. They turned 19 Griffons turnovers into 31 points.

Johnson didn't get many touches in the second half and that led to her only taking four shots. Tierra Ford, one of the Griffon freshmen who looks like she could be the next dominant player at Missouri Western, finished with 13 points for the game. She consistently hit jump shots all night from the outside.

The Griffons didn't guard the 3-point line real good in this match up. They allowed the Hornets to hit 13-of-23 3-pointers for 56.5 percent for the game.

Fouls were another achilles heel for the Griffons against the Hornets. The Griffons sent Emporia to the line 36 times on the night and the Hornets converted 26 of them.

Chamia Woods had a hard time taking care of the ball late in the game, trying to force things that weren't there. She dribbled into trouble and turned the ball over as a result. She had nine turnovers for the game.

The good part of her night was that she had six assists and 15 points.

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN WINSLaShawnna Edwards had 12 points, grabbed seven boards and dished out six assists as the Nova Southeastern Sharks (16-6, 9-2 SSC) defeated the Eckerd Tritons (14-8, 4-7 SSC) by a score of 70-56 on Saturday afternoon at Eckerd's McArthur Center. The Sharks got double figure scoring from four players and shot 13-of-15 from the free throw line.

*****************************************************UKRAINE - Women

Dnipro and Kozachka will clash in the Cup Final -by Eurobasket NewsDnipro and Kozachka were victorious on the opening day of the Ukrainian Cup Final Four held in Sumy. Dnipro outlasted Chaika, while Kozachka edged Tim-Scuf to advance to the competition finale. So basketball fans will have a chance to enjoy crème de la crème of Ukrainian women's basketball, the battle of two arguably the best squads on the scene at the moment. The first day of Final Four action brought pretty heated matchups with a lot of emotions for all the fans. Dnipro and Chaika got things going yesterday. Dnipro took over right from the start proving the strength. Dnipro outscored their opponents 26:16 in the opening frame behind 11 points from Diana Matveeva. The things started to look even worse for Chaika in the second quarter as Dnipro extended the lead to 18 points. Chaika struggled to find the rhythm from the field and the margin continued to pile up. Dnipro were up by comfortable 22 points at the end of the third stanza and eased past Chaika in the fourth period. Olga Lyashkova (185-G-80, agency: LBM Management) topscored with 22 points for Dnipro. Yulia Yuliya Yakhina (187-C-80) contributed 21 points, while Diana Matveeva knocked down 18 points for the winners. Anna Kulaga (183-G-85) tallied 16 points and 9 boards for Chaika. Irina Rastorgueva finished with 15 points in defeat. Meanwhile Kozachka faced Tim-Scuf in another semifinal. The starting 10 minutes of the encounter saw a heated opposition with neither side able to pull away. The teams were all square at 23 after the first quarter. The second quarter brought a different story as both teams combined for just 16 points with Kozachka accounting for 9 of those. Kozachka consolidated their lead after the break as Svitlana Kozachenko (180-G-74) paced the team to a 63:53 advantage after 30 minutes of action. Tim-Scuf did not recover in the final minutes and had to surrender at the end 69:79. Svitlana Kozachenko netted 17 points and grabbed 15 boards for Kozachka. Natalia Silyanova (173-G-71) and Natalia Isachenko (183-G-79) dropped 15 points for the winning side. Yelena Savina (186-F-84) led all scorers with 30 points and 14 boards for Tim-Scuf.